SF hosts AI‑run retail test

A San Francisco gift shop called Andon Market opened on April 10 with an artificial intelligence system, Luna, making most of the decisions about what to sell, how to staff it, and how to run checkout. (nbcnews.com) The store is at 2102 Union Street in Cow Hollow, and Andon Labs says it gave Luna a three-year lease, a corporate card, internet access, and a $100,000 budget to build a profitable business. (andonlabs.com) Andon Labs co-founders Lukas Petersson and Axel Backlund said Luna chose the merchandise, prices, opening hours, wall mural, and hiring plan, while two human employees handle in-person work the system cannot do itself. (andonlabs.com) (nbcnews.com) At checkout, customers use a corded phone to speak with Luna, which asks what they are buying and then creates the charge on a nearby iPad card reader. NBC News reported there are no conventional cashiers or barcode scanners in that flow. (nbcnews.com) The staffing experiment is the part Andon Labs most wanted to surface. Backlund told NBC News the company wants people to see that artificial intelligence can already “hire and manage humans” and decide whether they want that future. (nbcnews.com) The hiring happened fast. Andon Labs said Luna created profiles on LinkedIn, Indeed, and Craigslist, wrote a job description, uploaded company documents, and got listings live within five minutes of deployment. (andonlabs.com) The system also conducted phone interviews and, according to Andon Labs, sometimes offered jobs after calls lasting 5 to 15 minutes. Indian Express reported that some candidates did not realize at first that an artificial intelligence system was interviewing them. (andonlabs.com) (indianexpress.com) The store’s early mistakes were as revealing as the launch. Fast Company reported that Luna failed to schedule staff for opening day, and Petersson separately told Business Insider that the system later scrambled to message employees and ask whether someone could come in. (fastcompany.com) (agooka.com) Petersson also said Luna needed human help with lease signing and permits, and NBC News reported the system still depends on workers to prepare the shop and interact with customers in person. (indianexpress.com) (nbcnews.com) Andon Market is open daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., selling books, games, candles, stationery, artisan food, and store-branded merchandise. For now, the shop is both a real retail business and a public test of how far autonomous software can go before routine store work still pulls humans back in. (andon.market)